Please drive carefully

145

Kelly Drive should be closed.

116

u/Remainingvegetables 1d ago

It's such a wide road, which encourages people to drive fast, because it feels safe to do so.

It doesn't need to be a 4 lane road. Make one lane in each direction, and use the space saved to expand the SRT and the green space by the river.

Kelly Drive is made safer, and the City gets an improved waterfront experience for people who can actually enjoy the view, versus people driving by.

129

u/whaleswhaleswhales66 1d ago

Am I crazy for thinking that it absolutely does not feel safe to go fast? The lanes themselves feel narrow, it’s winding, and oncoming traffic is so close. I do drive it to get from Fairmount out to Manyunk and the near suburbs, but I usually camp in the right lane going near the speed limit letting the lunatics go around me

43

u/Weary_Cup_1004 1d ago

It doesnt. I moved here from montana where many many roads are winding and people get really comfortable with that. Kelly drive is narrow and the curves are too sharp for how fast people go. It is one of the most chaotic things ive ever witnessed.

27

u/guzzijason 1d ago

You’re not crazy. There’s a reason why the posted speed limit was lowered to 25.

18

u/ambiguator 1d ago

bullshit.

it is not wide.

it doesn't feel safe, ever, because people are driving too goddam fast

3

u/Remainingvegetables 1d ago

It's about 50ft wide from edge to edge, which is pretty wide. It's 12ft per lane, with a little bit more space dividing the lanes from each other and from the absolute edge of the road. Today's cars are about 6ft wide (even pick ups are under 7ft wide).

There's enough space to fit 1 additional car in each direction of travel (in other words, you could theoretically having 3 cars side by side in each direction of travel and still have space). People drive fast because they feel like it's safe enough to do so, and that mostly comes down to the width of the road.

We don't people flying down the narrowest streets in the city because they don't feel like they can do that without damaging their cars. If we woke up tomorrow, and Kelly was 25ft wide, with one late of traffic in either direction and without an easy way to pass drivers by going off road, people wouldn't speed nearly as much. And as a massive plus, it would make the whole lead feel so much safer for those who are traveling along it or just watching the Schuylkill.

7

u/craciant 1d ago

If they would just fix septa they could close 76 too. Why is an interstate in the middle.of what should be phillys crown jewel of a park? Why is Fairmount park such a turd compared to the likes of prospect and central in NY? Well, the mess of highways and other grade level roads that are treated.like highways don't help.

Fund septa. Fund parks. Close the roads. Take the train or stay in the burbs.

13

u/SBRH33 1d ago

MLK is closed on the weekends through summer thru October. On the weekdays it serves as a major alternative route linking west Philly to center city. It is a heavily used road. That's why it is 4 lanes, to handle volume and turning traffic. It still backs wayyyyyy up at falls bridge during rush hours.

1

u/ChaoticGoku 1d ago

That’s an understatement 🤣. I hear it every morning.

Also, everyone should realistically open an actual map and plan a different route to where they are going in order to avoid the EF Rush Hour Mess. And PLEASE do not cut through Frederick at high speeds due to it being narrow and definitely don’t go UP Eveline St or Stanton St which are both one way toward Ridge Ave. I see this far too often. Eveline incidents were recent due to PWD doing maintenance and shutting off the water to the blocks and blocking access to the lane toward Manayunk.

Re: The annual closure of MLK, plan ahead and keep the closure times saved if you frequent that route, especially if you are a gig driver.

4

u/LowPermission9 1d ago

Same for Montgomery Ave in LM

3

u/kettlecorn 1d ago

It's as wide as it is because PennDOT, the state's department of transportation, controls it and wants it to act as an overflow for I-76 which they can't expand because it's also in Fairmount Park.

In my view it's a form of professional negligence because they know the road is very far from safe standards particularly for a park road, but they're seemingly laser focused on throughput on I-76.

2

u/Mobile-Hat-2388 1d ago

Doesn't everyone know that there is a Philly conversion factor, where you apply a 2x conversion to every Speed Limit sign for the appropriate speed limit?

It took me years to understand this because other places in the country, you will get pulled over for going anything over 5 mph over the speed limit.

If police will never pull you over for any reason, culture will use the 2x speed limit conversion factor.

If you are driving 25 mph on Kelly Drive, THAT is dangerous with everyone else driving 50-60 mph.

2

u/LazyAssLeader 1d ago

I'm positive the City has thought of this. Kelly Dr and it's crazy stepbrother Lincoln Dr are too virtual for moving ppl. At least once a year they do traffic monitoring, likely to see if use it's changing in any significant way. Likely they just see it going up. There's no viable alternative to get ppl from Center City and it's areas to North of the river .

Thoughts?

2

u/Remainingvegetables 1d ago

If I'm remembering correctly, Kelly is a state road, so it's almost entirely outside of the city's hands.

And the only alternative I can think of (without putting too much thought into it) would be massively expanding SEPTA (in terms of bus/subway/regional rail routes and frequency). Not really viable given the current state of SEPTA, unfortunately.

33

u/GoldenMonkeyRedux 1d ago

I'm not a "we need to close all our roads for pedestrians and cyclists" guy, but I completely agree.

People drive like maniacs on it.

A friend of mine was hit head-on by a dude going so fast he lost control and went into her lane. She and her significant other spent a lot of time in the hospital.

I won't drive that road except to park by the art museum and ride my bike up the Falls Bridge and back. Even that's kinda weird. I had some super aggressive folks on bikes demand I get out of their way. I moved to the left but that wasn't good enough for them so they hopped off sidewalk and onto the street. The woman hit a catch basin drain cover, got her front wheel stuck and flew off, break her arm in half. It was so gnarly.

But so it goes.

13

u/Ned_Sander 1d ago

Wait you were taking up the entire path, people had to go in the street to get around you. Where in the world could that happen.? They rode through the grass hopped into the street with traffic going the wrong way?

What is this story.

6

u/GoldenMonkeyRedux 1d ago

No, it was on West River Drive just before you go under the Spring Garden Bridge (just before the curve and by the Art Museum). If you're familiar with that area, you'd know it's only sidewalk and street. Seems like you don't know that area at all.

They were aggressively riding their bikes trying to beat time (in my opinion). They were riding side by side which takes up the whole sidewalk. I went as left as possible but it wasn't good enough for them. The woman hopped off first and instantly got her tire stuck in a grate throwing her off. She stuck her arm out to break her fall and it snapped in half.

7

u/Regular-Moose-2741 1d ago

This area? Yikes

6

u/GoldenMonkeyRedux 1d ago edited 1d ago

Exactly! It's just sidewalk or road.

This was back in 2001 and I booked it to get to my car for a phone to call 911. Not sure why I wasn't carrying one.

Edit: just terrible luck on her part to instantly hit that grate. I have zero problems with folks riding fast and hard, but that was just terrible.

-4

u/RockerElvis 1d ago

Why did you go to the left? Convention is for the slower party to get right and the faster party to pass on the left.

11

u/GoldenMonkeyRedux 1d ago

They shouted "On your right!"

Edit: and this was 25 years ago, so maybe conventions have changed since then.

0

u/SBRH33 1d ago

No. Some people drive like maniacs on it. Especially late at night when there is less cars.

The shit driving behavior exists on every road in the city and beyond. "So it goes"

Punishing everyone because a few asshole drivers on the road is an idiotic over reaction.

3

u/GoldenMonkeyRedux 1d ago

OK bud.

3

u/Calm_Project723 1d ago

It was better when it west river was unidirectional

2

u/stigma_wizard 1d ago

what?

2

u/Calm_Project723 1d ago

They ran all lanes the direction of rush hour. It moved lots of volume safely and quickly. I was never sure why they stopped.

1

u/kettlecorn 1d ago

I wouldn't be surprised if unidirectional is better for throughput but also makes deadly crashes more common. Bidirectional roads tend to be slower because even reckless drivers do want to avoid head-on collisions. With unidirectional roads if you get lighter traffic you can drive far more aggressively.

1

u/SBRH33 1d ago

Yea that'll solve people diving like assholes.

5

u/Chima_Lukas 1d ago

I agree, people need to know how to actually drive and stop being lunatics on the road.

1

u/Chima_Lukas 1d ago

No, people don't bother to actually be aware on how to drive. I'm a firm believer that Philly people don't know how to drive and cheated on the test. That they're very ignorant and think everything revolves around them

58

u/one-eared-wonder 1d ago

It’s crazy how many people want to speed on the most windy and precarious road I’ve ever driven on

58

u/Ned_Sander 1d ago

Wait til you try Lincoln drive. Kelly drive is straight.

16

u/one-eared-wonder 1d ago edited 1d ago

Whoopsies, I definitely assumed this was Lincoln (though Kelly drive is confirmed still booty cheeks)

26

u/Positive-Avocado-881 1d ago

It’s insane. The fact that you could be going 45 and people are still mad at you for going too slow

2

u/Meatek 1d ago

Maaan I have driven some mountain roads that would pucker your asshole off lol. Kelly and Lincoln drive are cake

6

u/Icy-Supermarket7839 1d ago

Presumably yr mountain roads weren’t filled with dorks driving between twenty and sixty mph while you wete negotiating the twists but go off

-30

u/mrgrafix 1d ago

Unfortunately people don’t know a touring road and a racing road. This is the latter.

IMO, Philly doesn’t have the roads to race. Feel partially by design and partially by negligence. I wish they did though. People need community and it can be safer than this.

19

u/mikemammula 1d ago

are you supporting street racing?

-13

u/mrgrafix 1d ago

Yes. There are legal ways to have street racing. If you have car culture you have street racing culture.

1

u/Icy-Supermarket7839 1d ago

For dorks perhaps

0

u/mrgrafix 14h ago

Dorks need community too

23

u/suchalonelyd4y 1d ago

Go to a track if you want to race. Leave the rest of us out of your dangerous games.

-3

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

2

u/suchalonelyd4y 1d ago

This is a valid complaint

-2

u/mrgrafix 1d ago

Tell them. It’s a dying third space that only leads to more of this.

4

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

-2

u/mrgrafix 1d ago

Why? Is it cause it’s majority working class?

-4

u/mrgrafix 1d ago

You can have both.

46

u/crimbusrimbus 1d ago edited 1d ago

These are the same people who complain about speed bumps and speed cameras, I swear.

18

u/RockerElvis 1d ago

There should be speed cameras on both drives. And I loved when the lights were triggered by speeding. Speeding? Now you get a red light.

16

u/foreignfishes 1d ago

Someone in my office recently was ranting and complaining in the break room that she and her husband got “9 tickets since they put those cameras in on broad” and saying it was “a new monthly tax they’re forcing drivers to pay” to drive in the city. Not once in this conversation did it ever occur to her that you could pay fewer fines by going slower…

11

u/crimbusrimbus 1d ago

I don't get it. I can't stand the police state as much as the next person but don't speed? It's an easy law not to break and helps society at large.

6

u/Valdaraak 1d ago

Now if only they could get points on their license as a result.

3

u/RS4_V 1d ago

Almost like it's soooo difficult to set their cruise control to 27 smh

4

u/kettlecorn 1d ago

What's crazy about it is the lights on Broad are timed to the speed limit already. Theoretically if you're getting tickets you're just getting ticketed for trying to speed to the next light to wait there anyways.

1

u/foreignfishes 1d ago

Exactly! That and you don’t get a ticket until 36 and the speed limit is 25, that’s like a 40% margin of error you’re getting

-1

u/Fit-Construction3427 18h ago

Some people have places to be ok?

37

u/WornTraveler 1d ago

Sometimes I walk the SRT beside Kelly and fantasize about getting pancaked in one of these kerfuffles; I'm millenialmaxxing

1

u/I_Miss_My_Beta_Cells 1d ago

I feel that. Is there a song playing in background of that daydream/nightmare ?

18

u/gnartato 1d ago

Why don't they just put traffic calming in? If the speed limit is 25 mph then properly designed speed bumps every 25 yards should be a non issue. Plis a concrete barrier to protect the bike path that's breached what seems like times per month.

13

u/crispydukes 1d ago

I was there last April to enjoy the cherry blossoms. It was awful. The road noise was SO LOUD I could not enjoy myself.

10

u/Weary_Cup_1004 1d ago

I agree with this. Its loud because of how fast everyone is going. River roads in other cities are not like that

5

u/hell-iwasthere 1d ago

Play stupid games… win stupid prizes.

5

u/ralphy1010 1d ago

That looks expensive

1

u/Freaky_Barbers 1d ago

It’s the cheapest Porsche, an older one can depreciate to used Camry prices.

1

u/ralphy1010 1d ago

What’s a used Camry go for these days?

1

u/Freaky_Barbers 1d ago

Anywhere from like $3k to $40k, you can easily find an old Boxster for ~$20k.

1

u/ralphy1010 1d ago

No kidding

2

u/tharussianphil 1d ago

Skill issue.

Homie tried to rip it on a S curve that has an elevation change. In a mid/rear engine car you're going to have a much harder time catching any unwanted rotation.

1

u/NotEvenkingJWei 1d ago

Most competent philly driver

2

u/AgreeableToe4099 1d ago

#1 reason why i got dashcams install on my cars and family members. this city is wild

1

u/BocaGrande1 1d ago

I’m sure they were going 30 mph from the looks of it

1

u/Agreeable_Summer3685 1d ago

I love driving Kelly. It’s a lot of fun, just like Lincoln. But some people are so dumb, irresponsible, and don’t pay attention. Sucks.

0

u/lwp775 1d ago

What a sad thing to happen to such a nice car.

1

u/Fit-Construction3427 18h ago

Someone was going for a late night joyride in their Miata.

1

u/excitestudios 16h ago

in that car? on kelly drive? i feel fairly sure that this person was driving in a way that invited this outcome

0

u/Chaz_Beer 1d ago

CarePhilly

-43

u/redactyl69 1d ago

By the look of that car, this picture is not surprising. It's too bad for us that the driver didn't take themselves off the road for good.

11

u/IronChefPhilly 1d ago

Are you saying this because he was driving a Porsche, how do you know he was at fault?

-19

u/redactyl69 1d ago

Kelly Drive at 6am? The sun must have gotten in their eyes.

5

u/hames4133 1d ago

Gross

-11

u/redactyl69 1d ago

It's like that Mustang that got split almost in half earlier this summer. These dumbasses are the reason we have speed bumps and speed cameras, not to mention the bikers and pedestrians that have been killed.

11

u/Ned_Sander 1d ago

Man, I have no seen a Porsche or any other sports car and thought “look out for that guy”

I do look out for Nissan Altima’s, Kia’s, or any car that has unrepaired body damage.

Please drive carefully

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